Grimm: Season 2

Blu-ray

DVD

When the entertainment industry latches on to something that produces more
than an iota of financial success the proverbial band wagon is soon overcrowded
as every television network and movie studio scrambles to quickly cash in.
Although this usually means a significant dilution of quality occasionally an
entry or two come along with surprising good results. A couple of years ago two
television series embraced the current fade of supernatural themes by building
their shows around mature interpretations of fairy tales. On ABC they looked to
their parent company of Disney for a virtually endless supply of princesses,
witches and all sorts of enchantments for ‘Once Upon a Time’. Meanwhile
Universal, through their television branch, NBC came up with the series under
examination here, ‘Grimm’. This uses the stories of the Brothers Grimm to drive
a very different take on the perennial favorite of TV programming executives,
the police procedural. While the Grimm fairy tales ewe tell our children are
greatly Bowdlerized, the original content would ardent fan of the ‘Saw’
franchise a fright. The premise of ‘Grimm’ relies on a simple but effective
superstition; "what if the creatures in those stories were real and lived
covertly among us?’ to my delight both series quickly became never miss
favorites of mine.

Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a dedicated detective with the homicide
division of the Portland police department. He had established a solid life with
his trusted friend and partner, Detective Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) and on
the personal front living with his fiancée, Juliette Silverton (Bitsie Tulloch),
a veterinarian. In the first season his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) shows up with
two life altering pieces of news. The first was she is dying of cancer. The
second was he is something called a Grimm. This is a human being with the
supernatural ability to see creatures that otherwise look like anyone else in
their true form. For centuries Grimms have protected humanity by hunting down
and killing these creatures collectively referred to as Wesen. There are many
species of Wesen some fairly harmless, other extremely dangerous. Traditionally
Grimms did not differentiate. Marie bequeathed a trailer contain the knowledge
girthed through centuries by hundreds of Griims.it also housed a supernatural
apothecary and an arsenal of strange but painfully lethal weapons. In an unheard
of move Nick befriends a Wesen, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), a Blutbad or big
bad wolf. Monroe has distanced himself from the violent nature associated with
his kind and is a refined, considerate person. He becomes tight friends with
Nick and his partner in the endless supply of Wesen related cases.

By the second season Hank has been read in to the covert Wesen world but as
Nick was about to tell Juliette, a Hexenbiester (a facially torn witch-like
Wesen) named Adalind Schade (Claire Coffee), used a potion to place her in a
coma. Also resuming this season Nick has to contend with his missing mother,
Kelly (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) another Grimm running from a vast
conspiracy. At first the series was leaning towards a ‘freak of the week’ motif
which can rapidly turn boring. Fortunately, the creative minds behind this show
have much more in store. There is a group of ‘Royals’ who have been manipulating
humans and Wesens for ages. Nick and Hank unknowing work for an illegitimate
member of one powerful Royal family, Captain Sean Renard (Sasha Roiz) who has
own agenda to gain power in his estranged family. In this season we discover his
mother was a Hexenbiester; forbidden to the extreme and considered tacky. As a
prince of sorts he was able to break the spell on Juliette but with
consequences; a strong sexual attraction is created between them and Juliette
regains memory of her life with one glaring exception. She cannot remember
anything about Nick. With all of these subplots heavily entwined you might think
things would get too confusing but again thanks to an abundance of ingenuity and
talent the writer’s eaves these various threads into an extremely imaginative
tapestry.

Each episode a new type of Wesen is introduced so you might want to bookmark
the Grimm Wiki as a reference guide. One new regular introduced in season one
and promoted to regular in two is Rosalee Calvert (Bree Turner), a Fuchsbau ( a
fox like Wesen) how is a talented apothecary an knowledgeable of Wesen lore from
their point of view. Despite her kind’s traditional fear and hatred of Blutbad
she and Monroe fall in love. This is a subplot that fits into a broader set of
unfolding circumstances that underlie the entire story is how Nick’s assumption
of the role of Grimm has become catalyst for a new age of cooperation between
tradition mortal enemies. This not only encompasses Wesen and this special Grimm
but is manifested within former animosities between types of Wesen. This creates
an atmosphere of centuries of tradition being subject to rapid changes. From the
perspective of telling a story this provides richly fertile soil for drama,
suspense, intrigue and romance. The components of successful story telling are
enhanced greatly through this approach

Many of the Wesen species reflect Germanic linguistic origins consistent with
the original Brother Grimm stories. This is also manifested in the names of the
characters influenced by French and German words with a connection to their
roles or personalities. This attention to detail and the old world linguistic
continuity adds significantly to realism and ability to form a connection with
the audience. The overall result is a synergy that has made this show one of the
well-crafted and tightly written around today. The acting is impeccable and
easily capable of overcoming the use of soap opera techniques employed. As a
police procedural it works surprising well. Although it is true that Portland’s
criminal community is disproportionately comprised of rouge Wesen the
investigation of the publically revealed part of the crimes is surprisingly
satisfying.

The series is an old school take on the supernatural and a return to the
scarier aspects of the creature feature. While there are strong romantic plot
lines throughout the story arc these is not a teen oriented, sappy
vampire/werewolf tale that has been degrading the genre for a decade or so. This
is first and foremost a crime drama encased in a horror motif providing a
strongly entertaining time. When it first came out adjacent to Disney’s fairy
tale offering I had my doubts that the competition would ruin them. Instead each
show has firmly established its own identity and unique narrative, as for
‘Grimm’ the third season is about to start and if they remain on the course they
have charted potentially viable for many more.